Diary of a Criminal Investigator

The canteen in the municipal bureau has always been very quiet. Even during meals, there is only the faint sound of chewing, and rarely the sound of sipping soup.

But today was different. In one corner of the canteen, a dozen people were gathered around two tables, talking loudly.

"Teacher Lu, you're amazing! How did you match that bloody fingerprint?"

Unlike the average layman, being able to participate in a fingerprint battle organized by the municipal bureau shows that everyone at the table had considerable skills in fingerprint identification and analysis.

It's precisely because of their skills that they knew how difficult it was for Lu Chuan to successfully identify and analyze the two fingerprints.

Having watched the entire process of Lu Chuan's pre-processing of the bloody fingerprint, many were skeptical about whether Lu Chuan was a crime scene investigation detective or an image investigation detective.

Image investigation detectives have been gradually expanding in recent years.

Compared to traditional forensic doctors, crime scene investigators, and other types of detectives, there's an increasing demand for them.

This is mainly because in solving cases now, many times you don't need to investigate; finding surveillance footage is equivalent to catching someone in the act.

Therefore, in current case investigations, everyone's first reaction is to see if there are surveillance cameras near the crime scene.

It's only when there's no direct evidence that other clues are sought.

As a result, every district and county criminal investigation team now has a special image investigation squad.

It might not involve many people, but it counts as a dedicated position setup.

In Gao Wenxiang's impression, Lu Chuan's handling of fingerprint images on the computer felt a bit like solving a case through image investigation.

The difference was Lu Chuan's method of image analysis seemed high-end.

The image investigators in their criminal investigation team only knew how to scroll through videos.

Fast forward, rewind, and pause, occasionally having two experts who would reduce noise.

Like Lu Chuan, with a full screen of data flow...

Something not even seen in movies.

"That's right, Teacher Lu resolved two cold murder cases this time, making this fingerprint battle very fruitful!"

Sun Hao's attitude was similarly humble.

Lu Chuan was able to solve the cold murder cases, and Sun Hao knew the finger printing process used skills that even the provincial experts might not have.

Even the frog at the bottom of the well has distinctions: some can only see a hand-sized piece of sky, while others can see two hand-sized pieces.

Sun Hao was evidently the latter.

Lu Chuan was in a great mood, not because of his colleagues' compliments, but because he had honestly solved a case, which lifted his spirits.

No matter their position, which detective doesn't hope to solve more cases?

As for Wang Kai, the deputy director, wasn't he ignoring his meal to catch criminals outside?

Of course, this operation was definitely joyful.

Seven-year-old cold case, four-year-old cold case!

Lu Chuan's second-class merit was secure, and Wang Kai's achievements were also guaranteed.

Keep in mind, he was in charge of such fingerprint battles.

With such success, it's not common even in provincial fingerprint battles.

After all, unsolved murder cold cases, who hasn't seen rounds of expert deliberations, yet remain unresolved simply because ordinary methods couldn't crack them.

Being able to work in the municipal bureau doesn't necessarily mean they are extraordinarily skilled, but they at least have a good eye for things.

The various veterans looking at the cheerful group in blue shirts in the corner knew what was up.

Two murder cases...

They made a big breakthrough.

In just a meal time, about half an hour.

Usually, everyone would take a short nap during lunchtime.

Fingerprint battle tests eyesight and drains mental energy, though most times yield no significant results.

But there's no idling around. Everyone represented their criminal investigation team in the battle, and achieving something brought pride back to their teams.

The Haizhou City Public Security Bureau, admittedly large, had several thousand police officers when combined.

Yet, it's also small because only a few people work on fingerprints.

Everyone wants to have some standing in this circle, so while the fingerprint battles at the municipal bureau usually achieved little, they were quite competitive.

The more competitive they got, the more exhausting they became.

Resting a bit at noon didn't take much time, but benefited afternoon and evening work.

But this time, Lu Chuan didn't rest, and neither did anyone else. After all, they hadn't done much work in the morning, and everyone was still energetic.

Moreover, the case library for this fingerprint battle still had eleven cold murder cases.

Everyone wanted Lu Chuan to tackle their unit's case first.

Thus, a large group of criminal investigators using the municipal conference room for a blitz battle marched out in a spirited manner under the watchful eyes of local police working at the municipal bureau.

"Teacher Lu, I'm Wang Song from the Water District Criminal Investigation Team."

Lu Chuan nodded, having just heard Gao Wenxiang mention people's backgrounds; this Wang Song was the oldest detective participating in this fingerprint battle.

He was already 57 years old, with three years to retirement.

Being so dedicated at this age, Lu Chuan respected him.

"Hello, Brother Wang," Lu Chuan was not very familiar with the Water District Criminal Investigation Team. He greeted Wang Song and handed him a Chunghwa cigarette. "I'm not really a teacher. You can just call me Lu or Lu Chuan, don't be so formal. Here, have a smoke, old brother."

Wang Song took the cigarette but didn't smoke it. Instead, he started talking about the case. "Then I'll take the liberty to call you Lu."

Most detectives are not very scheming.

So Wang Song directly believed what Lu Chuan said.

"I mainly want to ask for your help with a case."

"Is it in this fingerprint battle library?"

Wang Song nodded. "Yes, it's also a murder case. The deceased was a detective from our team."

Dead?

At any time, when a police officer dies on duty, it's always a major case.

For example, in Song Kun's murder case, although Chen Gang fabricated a car accident scene, it was eventually discovered.

However, death and sacrifice are not the same concept.

"When did this happen?"

Lu Chuan had not heard of a detective from the Water District dying in the line of duty.

This meant it definitely wasn't after he joined the police, nor in recent years. Otherwise, rumors would have circulated.

Of course, if it was ordinary death or being killed, the impact would be smaller.

"Nine years ago."

Mentioning this, Wang Song's expression turned heavy. "He wasn't killed on duty, he was murdered while on vacation."

"Killed on vacation?"

Wang Song nodded again. "Nine years ago, in Temple King Mountain. When they found him, the body had already been mostly eaten by wild animals."

"During the crime scene investigation, they found the murder weapon nearby, confirming that he was murdered."

Wang Song gave a brief account of the case, but there wasn't much valuable information.

The murdered detective was Zheng Bin, who was only 32 at the time of death.

Zheng Bin enjoyed mountain climbing, hiking, and camping. Every year, when he could take time off, he would venture deep into the mountains to explore.

June nine years ago, the Water District Criminal Investigation Team received a call from a hiker reporting the incident.

That's how they found out the deceased was a member of their criminal investigation team.

At the computer, Lu Chuan was doing fingerprint preprocessing.

At the time, the murder weapon was examined and confirmed to be Zheng Bin's own field knife.

Besides his fingerprints, another unknown fingerprint was found.

Though it couldn't be confirmed that the owner of this fingerprint was the murderer, it definitely related to Zheng Bin's death since it appeared on his field knife.

The fingerprint's clarity was poor, just a blur.

Additionally, due to pressure, the ridges were stacked and pressed, making it not very complete.

"The provincial bureau sent experts back then, but this fingerprint was never successfully identified or analyzed."

Gao Wenxiang switched places with Wang Song, and everyone else evidently knew about this case too.

So no one competed with Wang Song to have Lu Chuan analyze their case.